NORTH HAMPTON – Usually, kicking your ball through the rough is considered cheating, a sneaky way to save a stroke. Now, it’s the entire nature of gameplay in a twist on the sport of golf called Foot Golf. Never heard of Foot Golf? That’s okay because Sagamore, a local golf course, will open the new game to anyone who wants to give it a try this summer.

Foot Golf has been sweeping the globe since its inception in 2009, and its popularity is growing. Richard Luff, president of the Sagamore-Hampton Golf Club on North Road in North Hampton, New Hampshire, adopted the game as a way to reach out to more players and keep the golf course one stroke ahead of the competition.

“Introducing Foot Golf will be a nice compliment because it will introduce our facility to another demographic,” says Luff. “The learning curve to play Foot Golf is easier and you can get families out there as well as soccer players.

Foot Golf started in the Netherlands in 2009 when a group of soccer players convinced a golf course in Holland to create a course. Since then it has become a world-wide sensation. The sport finally jumped across the pond in 2011 when it was adopted by a golf course in California. As both player and President of Sagamore, Luff likes to keep himself abreast on industry news. That’s how he first heard about this new twist on the sport. Luff became immensely interested in bringing home a new element to an old classic at Sagamore.

“We are always looking for new ways and new people to bring to this sport,” says Luff. “It shouldn’t have to be just a game with 14 clubs, people should enjoy it and get creative with it and I think this diversification can be the spark that attracts new people to the game of golf. It also can be a fun way for long-time golfers to play with their sport and try it from a new angle.”